I have loved you, saith Jehovah; but ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother? saith Jehovah, and I loved Jacob,

but Esau I hated, and made his mountains a desolation, and gave his heritage to the jackals of the wilderness.

Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the LORD of hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the LORD hath indignation for ever.

A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith Jehovah of hosts unto you, priests, that despise my name. But ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?

[You are] presenting defiled food on my altar! But you ask, 'How have we defiled you?' By saying [that] the table of Yahweh is despised!

But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Why not offer it to your governor? Would he be pleased with you? Or would he receive you kindly?” says the Lord of hosts.

But now plead for God's favor that he might be gracious to us. "With this kind of offering in your hands, how can he be pleased with you?" asks the Lord who rules over all.

If only there was one among you who would see that the doors were shut, so that you might not put a light to the fire on my altar for nothing! I have no pleasure in you, says the Lord of armies, and I will not take an offering from your hands.

But ye have profaned it, in that ye say, The table of the LORD is polluted; and the fruit thereof, even his meat, is contemptible.

Now say ye, 'It is but labour and travail,' and thus have ye thought scorn at it, sayeth the LORD of Hosts; offering robbery, yea the lame and the sick. Ye have brought me in a meat offering? Should I accept it of your hand? sayeth the LORD.

But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the LORD of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.

If you will not give ear and take it to heart, to give glory to my name, says the Lord of armies, then I will send the curse on you and will put a curse on your blessing: truly, even now I have put a curse on it, because you do not take it to heart.

See, I will have your arm cut off, and will put waste on your faces, even the waste from your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.

But ye are departed out of the way; ye have caused many to stumble at the law; ye have corrupted the covenant of Levi, saith the LORD of hosts.

Therefore have I also made you contemptible and base before all the people, according as ye have not kept my ways, but have been partial in the law.

But the LORD shall destroy the man that doth this, yea both the master and the scholar, out of the tabernacle of Jacob, with him that offereth up meat offering unto the LORD of Hosts.

But you ask, "{For what reason}?" Because Yahweh stands as a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have been unfaithful, even though she [is] your marriage partner and {your wife by covenant}.

{Did not one God make them?} But a remnant of [the] spirit is his. And what does the one [God] desire? An offspring of God. {You must be attentive to} your spirit, and you must not be unfaithful to the wife of your youth.

If thou hatest her, put her away, sayeth the LORD God of Israel and give her a clothing for the scorn, sayeth the LORD of Hosts. Look well then to your spirit, and despise her not.

You have wearied Yahweh with your words, but you ask, "With what have we wearied [him]?" [You have done so] {when you say}, "Everyone who does evil [is] good in the {sight} of Yahweh, and in them he delights," or "Where [is] the God of justice?"

But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap:

Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. But ye said, Wherein shall we return?

Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

Let your tenths come into the store-house so that there may be food in my house, and put me to the test by doing so, says the Lord of armies, and see if I do not make the windows of heaven open and send down such a blessing on you that there is no room for it.

Your words have been stout against me, saith Jehovah; but ye say, What have we been speaking against thee?

Ye have said, 'It is but lost labour, to serve God: What profit have we for keeping his commandments, and for walking humbly before the LORD of Hosts?

And now to us the men of pride seem happy; yes, the evil-doers are doing well; they put God to the test and are safe.

But they that fear God, say thus one to another, 'The LORD considereth and heareth it. Yea, it is before him a memorial book, written for such as fear the LORD, and remember his name.'

For behold, the day is coming, burning like a fire pot; and all the proud, and every doer of wickedness, shall be chaff. And the coming day will set them ablaze, says Jehovah of Hosts, which will not leave root or branches to them.

But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

And by him the hearts of fathers will be turned to their children, and the hearts of children to their fathers; for fear that I may come and put the earth under a curse.